Kristen Elise's Blog - Posts Tagged "men"

Writing Like a Man

“How do you write women so well?”

“I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.”

Jack Nicholson’s line from As Good As It Gets was met with laughter by men and cringing by women (as we concealed our inner laughter from the men in our lives so as to not publicly condone the statement.) Of course, Nicholson’s character was a romance writer. Had he been a mystery writer, the line might have gone something like this:

“I think of a man, and I take away action and add sap.”

I have been accused of “writing like a man,” a comment I took as a major compliment. Now, before readers and writers of both genders take equal offense and burn me at the stake, please allow me to explain: it’s a fact that author gender matters to some readers. Specifically, it matters more to men.

Attached are a few statistics from Bowker’s publication of “The Mystery Consumer in the Digital Age.” The stats I have are from 2010, but let’s face it, ladies, we haven’t advanced that much in the last three years.

More at http://novelspaces.blogspot.com/2013/...
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Published on July 09, 2013 09:09 Tags: author, fiction, men, mystery, writing